Latest News

Zoë's First Pony Ride

August 7th, 2010
For weeks Zoë has been following the ponies around Parc Monceau. There are four of them there each day to provide pony rides to the kids. At first she watched with her eyes, but recently she has insisted on getting out of her stroller and following them on their loop around the duck pond on foot. Yesterday, she could stand to be a spectator no more, and after her success riding a triceratops at the Dinosaur exhibit the previous Friday, Daddy thought she was ready. She got on the smallest pony, and with Daddy's hand on the saddle, bounced around the trail like real cowgirl. She held the reins, and watched with interest the way the ponies interacted (um, sniffed one another all over) while circling the park. Then on the last bend, she saw her stroller waiting and knew the fun was about to end. The wailing started, and protests followed when it was time to dismount. But, she'll be there again before too long, and it's only a 10 minute walk from home.

Zoë the Jumping Joker

May 11th, 2010
Zoë has been communicating with the world more and more every day. Today she added a new element -- teasing. Zoë was in her jolly jumper bouncing away to the music, when she declared to Daddy that she was done. She made the sign for done, waving both hands, and said, "duhn." When Daddy came over to get her out of her bouncy contraption, she started to cackle and bounce again as if to say, "Psych, Daddy! I still want to bounce!" This was hilarious again and again to all involved!

Beware! Zoë Understands It All

May 5th, 2010
It seems she's signing a new word almost every day, and signing the ones she knows even more clearly. Today, when learning the word for blanket, she purposefully walked into another room and brought back a blanket. Be careful what you say around her! Similarly, a few days ago when asked where the phone was, she marched straight to it. She went all the way down two halls from the kitchen to the living room, pointing in front of her the whole way in the direction she was toddling. She reached the phone, picked it up, and handed it over. That's our little word wizard!

Zoë the Signing Machine!

April 17th, 2010
After 6 months of using the British method of Baby Led Weaning to move Zoë from an exclusive milk diet to solid foods, she is really expanding her pallet. This week she had her first taste of spanokopita (feta, spinach, garlic and emmental, in our version, wrapped in a bready crust), and she couldn't get enough! She repeatedly used the sign language for "more" and pointed at the cutting board where the remainder of it rested. Over the past couple of weeks Zoë has added several new signs to her repertoire. She's now signing bird, dog, and, of course, waving hi and bye whenever she gets the chance.

Milestones

September 29th, 2009

It's been a while since the last Zoë update. That's because she's been keeping Mom and Dad busy with great advancements in baby development!

In the last month, Zoë has gone from wobbling like a bowling pin to successfully sitting up without support. She's also gone from an milk-only diet to a milk-plus-gross-rice-mush diet. Yum! (See her first experiments with spoons here.) And perhaps most exciting of all, Zoë is now mobile! I wouldn't call it crawling just yet, but it's an adorable combination of lunging and inch-worming. Regardless of definitions, she can scoot across the rug now. No cat tail is safe!